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JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

2.5 trillion yen budgeted for outlying shinkansen

The government and the three ruling parties agreed Monday to begin construction of new sections of shinkansen tracks in the Hokuriku and Kyushu regions at a cost of 2.5 trillion yen to the central and local governments over roughly 12 years.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

Cultured skin next high-tech goal

First in a three series Kyodo News Professor Hisashi Aoyama is certain of the future of cultured skin.
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2000

Economic panel to be disbanded lists failures

A soon-to-be-disbanded top government advisory panel issued a report Monday reflecting on its failure to quickly deal with major economic changes such as the information technology boom and the collapse of the asset-price bubble that depressed the economy through the 1990s.
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2000

Rising path seen ahead for growth stocks

The Tokyo stock market appears to have hit a recent bottom on Nov. 22 when the key 225-issue Nikkei average dropped to 14,301.31, its lowest closing reading since March 4, 1999.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

Switch China's ODA terms to project basis, panel urges

Japan should start providing its official development assistance to China on a project basis and terminate its habit of multiyear disbursement programs, a report released Monday by a Foreign Ministry advisory panel says.
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 19, 2000

Okubo eyes Cerezo Osaka

Japan youth forward Yoshito Okubo looks set to join Cerezo Osaka after choosing the club ahead of a number of J. League sides chasing the schoolboy's signature, sources close to the first division team said Sunday.
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2000

18 of 41 applicants OK'd for CS digital broadcast licenses

An advisory panel to the posts and telecommunications minister on Monday selected 18 out of 41 companies and organizations that applied for licenses to begin next-generation interactive digital broadcasting services via so-called communications satellites.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

Shibuya attack meant to embarrass violent dad: boy

A 17-year-old high school boy arrested Saturday in the baseball bat bludgeoning of pedestrians in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward has told investigators that he carried out the attack because he had been beaten by his father and had wanted to embarrass him by attacking others, police said Monday.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 19, 2000

Making mush of Meadowlark

SHOPPING: A Novel, by Gavin Kramer. Soho Press, 2000, 216 pp., $22 (cloth). It's easy for a foreigner to feel like a freak in Japan -- tall, different, culturally unaware, linguistically tongue-tied. This wickedly clever novel of manners turns its lens on the foreign protagonist as spectacle, British...
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2000

Daiei names more stores for closure

Ailing supermarket chain operator Daiei Inc. said Monday it will shut down its stores in Chiba Prefecture's Narita and Kisarazu and four other outlets by the end of February as part of a rehabilitation program that will shutter a total of 32 shops.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 19, 2000

Rumbling with the jungle girls on tour in the U.K.

I'm a failed rock star and that's probably why I ended up writing about music.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2000

Eco-terrorism threatens Galapagos natural treasures, eco-tourism

The Galapagos Islands, the world's second-largest marine reserve, are under attack from fishermen spurred by Asian markets for marine products. The Ecuadorean government has done nothing to halt the eco-terrorism in what only recently was a paradise for eco-tourism.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

120 nations sign treaty targeting top toxic threats

In a recent set of marathon talks that went down to -- and past -- the wire, delegates from more than 120 countries hashed out the first international treaty designed to eliminate some of the world's most toxic chemicals.
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 19, 2000

Monkey magic takes hold of the Kabukiza

The Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo is ending the year 2000 with two selections of plays and dance numbers befitting the occasion.
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2000

Kawasaki Steel to take 10 percent of Hyundai Pipe under tieup

Kawasaki Steel Corp. said Monday it has reached a final agreement with Hyundai Pipe Co. on a business tieup that includes technology transfers and Kawasaki's purchase of a stake of more than 10 percent in the South Korean steelmaker.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 19, 2000

K-beat knocking on Japan doors

Within moments of taking the stage of the Pasha Club in the downtown Tokyo district of Nishi-Azabu, Drunken Tiger, a hip-hop duo from South Korea, had the trendy club-goers dancing frantically to its beat-heavy sound.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

Curry recalled over package misprint

OSAKA -- Ezaki Glico Co. said Monday it has begun recalling one of its curry products because of problems regarding the print on the packages.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

Ishihara awarded for clean air effort

The Automotive Researchers' and Journalists' Conference of Japan said Monday it has chosen Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara as its Person of the Year.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

Mori allots 250 billion yen toward IT 'revolution'

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Monday unveiled the breakdown of a 700 billion yen special budget that places special emphasis on efforts to realize an information technology "revolution" in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2000

Australia aims to be a more credible ally

The United States should welcome the more outward-looking defense posture embodied in the Australian white paper released on Dec. 6. Although the country's armed forces will remain configured mostly for the defense of Australia, enhanced capabilities can also be used to contribute to allied coalitions...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 19, 2000

Wowed by the Lao and Siam

A DIPLOMAT IN SIAM, by Ernest Satow. Introduced and edited by Nigel Brailey. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2000, 206 pp., with maps and line drawings, $23. In the spring of 1886, Ernest Satow wrote to his friend W.G. Aston in Japan that his recent journey to the Lao states had been "on the whole a pleasant...
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2000

Ministers agree to cut runway budget

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and Transport Minister Chikage Ogi agreed Monday to reduce the budget in fiscal 2001 for the construction of a controversial second runway at Kansai International Airport.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji